Chapter 1 Practice Test - Earth Science

What term describes the entirety of Earth's water, including oceans, lakes, rivers, underground water, and ice?

The layer of gases surrounding Earth, primarily composed of nitrogen and oxygen.

The comprehensive sum of all ecosystems on Earth, encompassing every living organism from the tiniest microbes to the largest animals, and including entities in various environments such as water, land, and within other organisms. What is this term?

What term is used to describe the combined mass of Earth's glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets?

What information can be derived from studying ice cores in Antarctica?

• A. The historical temperature fluctuations over millennia

• B. The exact age of the Earth

• C. The types of creatures that lived in Antarctica

• D. The future predictions of Earth's climate

Which statement best distinguishes matter from energy?

• Energy can be converted into matter and vice versa, according to Einstein's theory

• Matter can be converted into waves, while energy is static

• Energy and matter are the same things, just in different forms

• Matter is composed of particles, whereas energy is the capacity to do work or cause change

What is a primary cause of coral bleaching?

• A. Increased fishing activities

• B. Rise in sea levels

• C. Higher water temperatures

• D. Reduction in marine pollution

What is the benefit of conducting integrated studies on Earth's systems?

• A. It allows for a quicker completion of individual studies.

• B. It helps in defining the limits of each system more accurately.

• C. It reduces the chances of making mistakes due to the similarity of processes across systems.

• D. It enables the understanding of interactions between different Earth systems.

What does the presence of banded iron formations indicate about the composition of Earth's atmosphere over 2 billion years ago?

• A. There was a higher concentration of carbon dioxide.

• B. There was a significant increase in atmospheric oxygen.

• C. Oxygen levels were considerably lower than today.

• D. Nitrogen levels were much higher than oxygen levels.

What is the estimated age of the Earth in years?

• 100,000 years

• 1 billion years

• 4.5 billion years

• 10 billion years